Quaker to Restructure, Focus on Gatorade

Quaker Oats Co. said it will eliminate as many as 1,200 jobs in North America, about 10% of its work force, and use the savings to promote Gatorade, its best-selling sports drink. The maker of its namesake oatmeal will take pretax charges of as much as $250 million over the next two years. It plans to close an unspecified number of plants, combine food and beverage warehouse and delivery operations, and contract out some manufacturing. Quaker Oats expects to cut costs by about $45 million in 2001. Its shares fell 63 cents to close at $62.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.